Resistance from environmental groups is mostly based on the development’s proximity to the Appalachian Trail, the foot trail which goes from Maine to Georgia. Under law, any development must be a minimum of 300 feet from the trail property.

To build the project, Vista Lodge Development Company, LLC must obtain eight variances from the township’s ordinances, according to Towamensing Township Zoning Officer Duane Dellecker. That includes height, footprint and location exemptions.

The township’s zoning ordinance limits buildings to 50 feet. Vista Lodge Development is requesting a variance to construct a building that is 85 feet high.

The 26,000 square foot footprint is on 1.95 acres, Dellecker said. That property must have a maximum coverage of 25 percent for non-residential use.

The plan also fails to meet the township’s requirements for setbacks. The number of parking spaces is an issue, as is the parking lot’s surface, which is required to be asphalt, but on the plans is gravel, Dellecker said.

Cindy Adams Dun, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources opposes the project that she referred to as a hotel and waterpark, in a letter to the superintendent of the National Park Service Appalachian Trail Park Office.

“The DCNR believes that the proposed hotel and waterpark at Blue Mountain Resort run counter to the spirit as well as the intent of Act 24,” she said.

Act 24, part of the Appalachian Trail act, requires municipalities and counties through which the trail passes to establish ordinances to preserve the natural, scenic, historical and esthetic values of the trail and conserve and maintain it as a public national resource, Dun said, quoting from the act.

Brooks Mountcastle, an environmental planner with Pennsylvania’s Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said the organization is concerned with the visual impact of an 80-foot high hotel condominium just a few feet from the trail’s buffer zone.

The group’s national organization has an agreement with the National Park Service, through volunteer trail clubs to maintain the footpath and make sure the path is clear of vegetation.

“There are lighting concerns with the year-round pool and noise. And there are probably other locations where this facility could be located without the impact,” Mountcastle said.

Donald Miles, a zoning lawyer, township solicitor and Chairman of the Sierra Club Lehigh Valley is, along with its 2,000 members, opposed to the project.

There’s a large outdoor swimming pool and hot tub combination about 30 feet from the easement,” Miles said. “We are assuming it will be illuminated, noisy, and none of that will be in keeping with the purpose or desired atmosphere and ambience of the national scenic trail. It’s supposed to be a wilderness type of experience, not 12 feet from a luxury apartment building.”

Miles opposed the issuing of any variances.

“A variance is only supposed to pass if it’s in the public interest,” he said. “We have an ordinance and state statute that says it’s in the public interest to protect the trail. The public interest is keeping the zoning ordinance into effect. This is not the right place to put this.”

Miles also said the developers plan a waterpark at the top of the mountain, consistent with the DCNR letter.

A representative from Blue Mountain Resorts could not be reached for comment.

A web site for the Vista Lodge Residence Club indicated the facility would be open in 2019. A waterpark was not part of the listed information.